Plaid Cymru AM Leanne Wood has called for a review of the scheme which allows highly paid civil servants involved in mergers or reorganisation to have their salary protected – “in perpetuity”.
The South Wales Central AM made the appeal after it was revealed that 195 Welsh Government employees were on protected salaries at September 30, 2011.
Leanne Wood believes that the protection for staff on the highest executive pay grades should be re-examined. She has previously pressed the Welsh Health Minister on protected pay for top NHS managers.
Leanne Wood said: “I can understand the need to protect the salaries of staff for a period of time after a reorganisation or a merger.
“But I do question whether civil servants on the highest pay bands should qualify to have their salaries protected in perpetuity. There is a need to look at this issue, given the strain on public finances and the need to protect frontline services.
“I’d like to see the Permanent Secretary in conjunction with the First Minister examine this issue because it is difficult to justify these deals particularly given current austerity.”
In a letters to the Plaid AM, Permanent Secretary Gillian Morgan said that salary protection was a Civil Service-wide practice in operation outside Wales.
The Permanent Secretary said: “The majority of individuals with salary protection have it as a result of the mergers programme. There are 12 whose salary protection results from a restructuring within the Welsh Office in 1998. These individuals have a reserved right to a slightly higher rate of pay whilst they remain in the same post and grade.
“TUPE transfers provide for salary protection for individuals compulsorily transferred eg during the mergers programme. This protection potentially lasts in perpetuity. We regularly review our pay arrangements during annual negotiations with our trade unions.
“The current pay freeze for public sector pay means that marked time pay will remain in place for many staff for a longer period than planned as generic pay scales are not being uprated.”
